Lately many people I talk to are working for employers who are taking the ways of micromanaging to new levels. I guess it could be micro-micromanaging? Is that even a word? Or even perfection beyond perfection? I do not know how else to word it. In some cases on the topic of these types of employers from friends and acquaintances (0r even events I have seen with my own eyes) one story makes me disgusted! Why are some employers getting a little too involved in their employees' personal lives?
In talking to employers I have worked for or even just met and got acquainted with overtime they all claim to thrive in being a workaholic, and couldn't imagine being any other way. I am not entirely sure that is healthy to be honest. Perhaps for them it truly is but I don't know, as I have always thought us humans need to appreciate some rest and relaxation. If people do truly thrive in working all the time, then good for them, but I believe they should not expect others to be workaholics too; especially expecting those who work for them, and nor should they expect their workers lives to parallel to their own personal way of life. I am going to be frank! To me that is wrong and totally inappropriate. I believe it is crossing the line.
Everyone is different from one another, everyone is unique, and therefore (obviously because we can be so different from one another) each of us has a different type of life compared to the other. To expect others to be just like them in a workplace including in their personal sphere is quite narcissistic to me. And in another way, I view it as childish; in fact, I think it is very childish...
Why am I so blunt? I don't like bullies. But it even carries on into adulthood I guess. My cousins and I made many other kids happy by driving out bullies off of playgrounds growing up. Did we get physical? Yes, and only if they physically attacked us after we told them that what they were doing was not okay and that they should get a conscience and leave others be. As adults it is not a scrap on a playground and it is over with. Often it seems even more manipulative, immoral, and to me more awful than a scrap on the playground.
I also can't help but notice that those who micromanage also have a tendency to demand perfection while also lacking in observation skills, or even going so far as to assume things of people without asking questions, and meanwhile frequently getting things wrong themselves and then lacking accountability as well as responsibility for their errors, or even lie for the sake of trying to get their way. Anyone else see what is wrong with that? Worse, getting close to employees in familiar way only to use it against them later?
When someone in authority decides to be kind, polite, and be a confidante to others only to use anything they tell them against them later I believe it is a huge violation of trust. There is something wrong when one invites those they work for them to share their stories, goals, plans/ambitions and even their heartaches only to use it against them later. Is it just me or does that seem to be a manipulative tactic? And people wonder why we are becoming less trustworthy or community-like in this world when such a deep personal violation like that occurs.
One story which was the reason that lead me to write on this subject was someone told their employee that because of the fact that this worker who loves to travel with their family wasn't getting many benefits or perks in their career was because they weren't, "settling down." I don't want to say much of the detail but when the employer expanded on what that meant in their eyes it seemed to the employee that it was very similar to what the boss themselves had done with their life. Who says that? Why do they think it is okay or that they have the right to say something like that or do something like that toward their workers?
So, the micromanaging employers can even say to staff if anyone is not exactly like them in both work and personal spheres then they don't get their benefits, raises, or commendations for their hard work? What kind of a world do we live in?
Does anyone else feel that this is not okay? Or do you think this is right? Because I don't think it is.
Employers then need to keep a line between work and personal and leave it in the work sphere and stay out of everyone else's personal lives, especially if they are using the warmth and kindness as a mask in order to gain information on employees and use it against them later, as I don't think it is okay at all.
~Ange
Copyright 2015 Lucky 33: Stories, Experiences, Perspectives, and Opinions of a Woman Who Made It To Her Thirties.
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